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          <b>Table of Contents</b>
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              <a href="introduction.html#install-overview">Installation Overview</a>
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      <p>
            Welcome to the Berkeley DB. This manual describes how to
            configure, build and install Berkeley DB. Installation of DB
            for all of the platforms it officially supports is described in
            this manual. Upgrade instructions and release notes for newer
            versions of this product are described here. For infomation on
            upgrading from historical versions, see the
            
            <a class="ulink" href="http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17076_02/html/upgrading/index.html" target="_top">
                        Berkeley DB Upgrade Guide.
           </a>
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            Note that some operating systems and distributions might
            provide DB, either by default or as part of an installation
            option. If so, those platforms will have installation
            instructions for DB specific to them. In this situation, you should
            see the documentation for your operating system or distribution
            provider for information on how to get DB on your
            platform. 
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                Berkeley DB is an open-source product, and as such it is
                usually offered in source-code format. This means that
                placing DB on your platform requires you to configure
                the build scripts, compile it, and then install the product
                onto your host system. The exception to this are Microsoft
                Windows platforms for which a binary installer is
                available. Note that for Windows platforms, you can still
                compile the product from source if you desire.
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                For *nix systems, including the BSD and Linux systems,
                the usual <code class="literal">configure</code>, <code class="literal">make</code> 
                and <code class="literal">make install</code> installation
                process is used to place DB on your platform.
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                For information on building and installing Berkeley DB on:
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                        Microsoft Windows, see <a class="xref" href="build_win.html" title="Chapter 5.  Building Berkeley DB for Windows">
		Building Berkeley DB for Windows
        </a>
                        or <a class="xref" href="build_wince.html" title="Chapter 6.  Building Berkeley DB for Windows Mobile">
		Building Berkeley DB for Windows Mobile
        </a>.
                    </p>
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              <p>
                        Unix/POSIX — including Linux, BSD, Apple iOS (known as iPhone OS previously), and Mac OS X — see 
                        <a class="xref" href="build_unix.html" title="Chapter 7.  Building Berkeley DB for UNIX/POSIX">
		Building Berkeley DB for UNIX/POSIX
        </a>.
                    </p>
            </li>
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                        VxWorks, see <a class="xref" href="build_vxworks.html" title="Chapter 8.  Building Berkeley DB for VxWorks">
		Building Berkeley DB for VxWorks
        </a>.
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